Page 10 of Forsaking His Mate (The Wolves of Black Mountain #1)

TESSA

TWO MONTHS LATER…

T he way the sun is shining off the lake makes it shimmer like diamonds. I’m sitting on the porch of the cabin, a mug of steaming coffee in my hands, and a blanket over my legs. It’s early, and there’s a chill in the air that will only slightly dissipate as the sun rises higher on the horizon. In a few weeks’ time, the ground will be covered in snow and frost. The sanctuary will look amazing in white, though I know it will stress Abel because it makes hunting more challenging.

The door opens beside me and I twist my neck to see Abel step out. Despite the coolness of the morning, he’s wearing only jeans, slung low on his hips, and showing off the perfect lines and planes of his chest and abdomen.

I swallow down the moisture gathering in my mouth and focus on our bond. I get a sense of serenity from him and that makes me relax.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to fuck you on the porch,” he says. It’s meant to be a threat, but it makes my pussy throb in a delicious way.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I fire back.

Since I found out about the moon sickness, I understand why he rejected me. I hate that he thought he needed to be alone to protect me, but I understand it too.

He has slowly opened up to me more about what happened to his mom and it broke my heart to hear it. She died horribly. His father too. Abel had tried to stop it and hadn’t been able to, so he carries guilt about that.

But Abel isn’t his father and I am able to calm him through the mating bond. We used both Hester’s magic and the bond to stop him from turning feral during the last two full moons, but we’re working toward me calming him only with our bond.

My thoughts scatter as Abel comes to my side, dipping low so he can press his mouth to mine.

The kiss is soft and yet possessive, a claiming mark that tells me I’m his. I am.

Completely.

He moved into my cabin. The view is better from here, and I love looking over the lake. It’s also bigger than his and we need the space. Slowly, we’ve been making it our own, adding personal touches and flowers to the frontage.

“I’ll always show you a good time,” he rumbles as he straightens.

He’s not lying. He’s amazing in bed and he knows it. Maybe it’s the mating bond, but when I’m with him like that, I feel so connected, so in love with him. The way he plays my body is incredible.

“I like the sound of that,” I say, pulling back from the kiss. My fingers trail over his skin, needing to touch him. I always need to be touching him.

His hand moves to cup my breast through my sweater, and my skin heats. I can feel the arousal down the mating bond, making my pussy throb with need. “You’re wearing too many clothes,” he complains.

“So are you.”

Abel grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet. I go willingly, dropping the blanket on the chair as he leads us into the warmth of the cabin. As soon as the door is shut behind us, he grabs the hem of my sweater and tugs it over my head. My tee follows, leaving me in just my bra. Slowly, as if savoring the moment, he peels the cups off my breasts, revealing my hard nipples.

The heated look in his eyes doesn’t surprise me. I’m sure it’s reflected in my own. “Beautiful,” he murmurs before dropping to his knees in front of me and tugging my nipple between his teeth.

I suck in a breath as warmth pools in my belly. My fingers run through his hair, urging him to keep going.

He does, sending spasms of pleasure through my body.

“Abel…” I gasp his name as a shiver rolls up my spine.

“I’ve got you, baby,” he tells me as he moves to my other nipple and latches his mouth around it. The breath in my lungs stutters, and I have to grip him tighter to ground myself.

Abel releases the sensitive bud with a popping sound before he stands. He towers over me, and I have to lift my eyes to meet his. I feel his love for me radiating through the bond, and I push that same emotion back at him as he shoves my yoga pants and panties down my legs. I step out of them, struggling to get free as they cling to my calves.

Abel's movements are needy, and his hands are sure as he bares me to him. His mouth latches on to mine as his fingers slip through my folds to skim over my clit. He walks us back into the bedroom, still exploring my pussy as he does.

Carefully, he lowers me onto the mattress and parts my thighs before diving between my legs. I can feel my orgasm building as he eats me like he’s been starving for me. His grunts and groans are turning me on as much as the flattening of his tongue against my clit.

I cling to the sheets as if it is a life raft tossed into tumultuous waters, and when his fingers push inside my body, my hips come off the bed. Every inch of me is heated and trembling; I can feel his pleasure and excitement through the mating bond as he finger-fucks me to climax.

Stars explode behind my eyes as I go over the edge. My pussy squeezes tightly, contracting around his digits. As my orgasm starts to ebb, Abel places his fingers in his mouth, still soaked with my wetness, and sucks them clean.

I bite my bottom lip, wondering how I ever felt happy without him. My life feels split into two parts: before Abel and after Abel.

My thoughts scatter as he leans over the bed, his hands on either side of my body, the mattress dipping as he steals a kiss from me. His hard body surrounding me affects me in a way nothing else could. Love and warmth wash through me as his tongue tangles with mine, and his scent surrounds me, my body craving more .

“Fuck me,” I beg as his mouth leaves mine and trails down my neck.

“As my mate commands,” he murmurs.

Straightening from the bed, he undoes his jeans. The way he pops the button open has my eyes turning molten, and the ripple of his muscles as he moves makes my mouth water. I watch him strip out of his clothes, and when his cock is free, my gaze is instantly drawn to it.

He’s thick, smooth, and long, with a dark thatch of hair at the root. And all mine.

Abel stops at the edge of the bed and pulls me to him, my ass hanging over the edge, before sliding the tip of his cock inside me. I close my eyes, drawing in a breath as he slowly pushes forward, stretching me as he fills me up. I can feel him trembling as he tries to control himself, his fingers leaving indentations in my skin as he grips my thighs, spreading them wide enough to accommodate him.

I keep my eyes shut as that exquisite pinch of pain morphs into a feeling of fullness as he presses deeper. I can imagine how I must look, spread out on the bed, his cock disappearing inside my body inch by delicious inch. I dig my nails into my palms as he bottoms out, pinned by his thickness, gladly unable to move as he holds me in place. His hand runs over my stomach, just inches over the strip of dark hair that leads to my pussy.

“You were made for me, Tessa,” he says, emotion thick in his words.

Thinking we might not have had this if he’d remained resolute on rejecting me makes my stomach twist. I can’t imagine a world where Abel isn’t my mate and we’re not connected. He has fast become everything to me. The other half of me .

My wolf howls as Abel drags his cock back before shoving back inside me. I gasp as I stretch around him, molding to his size. “I wish you were in heat,” he growls. “I can’t wait to see your belly full with my pups.”

I can’t stop my pussy from clenching at his words. Knowing he wants that does things to me.

A wolf’s heat cycle usually comes monthly once the mating bond is in place. Sometimes it can take a few months before the first one, but it usually happens in the first year. As a tau, I’m not sure how our heat cycles work, but I long to feel Abel’s cock swell into a knot inside me, locking us together as he spills into me.

“I wish I was, too,” I admit.

He slams into me again, shoving me up the mattress with the force of it, guttural sounds coming from the back of his throat and sweat beading on his skin as he fucks me harder and faster.

“More,” I demand, the word slipping out in breathy growl.

He obliges, his hips pistoning as he plunges in and out. His pace has my toes curling as pleasure starts to build in my stomach. I desperately claw at his arms, trying to pull him deeper inside me. It’s enough, but it’s not at the same time. I’m so sensitive down there, everything buzzing and thrumming with need.

Abel’s breath hitches right before his hips stutter, and he comes. I can feel him pulsating as my pussy contracts around his length, draining every drop of cum from his cock.

My back arches as I try to absorb the multiple sensations washing through me, my legs feeling weak and my body limp.

Abel doesn’t instantly pull out, keeping his cock locked inside me as his fingers reach up to fondle my breasts.

“You’re mine,” he says.

“I am,” I agree. “You’re mine too.”

“Always.”

He finally slips out of my pussy and pulls me to him. My head rests against his chest, my body plastered against him, his seed still inside me. Abel draws circles on my arm as my thoughts linger on him wanting to put a baby inside me. “Are you happy?”

His question surprises me, and I glance up at him. “You must be able to sense through the bond that I am,” I say.

“I can, but I want to hear it from your mouth.”

“I’m happy, Abel,” I assure him. “Are you?”

“More than you can imagine. I thought I would never find this. I thought I would spend my life alone because of my moon sickness. This is beyond my wildest dreams. I hate that you have to deal with me when I’m so damaged.”

I snap my eyes to his. “You’re not damaged. The moon sickness doesn’t define you, Abel, and will happily ‘deal with you’ every time.”

He kisses me. “Maybe one day I will see it that way.”

“Have you ever considered that your ability to become feral could be a weapon against the hunters trying to kill us?”

He growls at my statement. “I will destroy anyone who comes for you! Anyone .”

“I know.” I’m comforted he says this, but I can also take care of myself now.

My wolf side is not nearly as strong as my witch one, but I’m learning to focus both. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to shift into my animal, but I have hope. Roux has been practicing with hers, and she’s been holding her shift a little longer each time.

The four of us thrive in the magic, though. Hester, Apryle, Roux and I are stronger because of our connection to each other. I don’t fear the hunters coming for us, not this time. I know I can keep myself safe.

I trail my fingers over his chest. “I love you. You know that, right?”

He presses another kiss to my mouth, his arm tightening around me. “I love you too.”

Two days later, I’m up with the sunrise, sitting on the porch again with a blanket over my knees and my hands wrapped around a fresh mug of coffee. I try to calm my mind, but my thoughts are troubled enough to have pushed me from bed. The past two nights, I’ve had nightmares about the hunters. I don’t know how to describe them, but they felt like visions in my sleep, something that’s never happened before. I don’t know what they mean, but they play over in my mind as I stare over the lake.

The grass is covered in a layer of frost that makes it shimmer as the winter sun peeks over the mountains. I can sense Abel is awake through the bond, and that gives me comfort. I wait as I hear him moving around before he eventually opens the door and steps out onto the porch.

He dips down and presses his mouth to mine. “Morning, baby,” he murmurs.

“Morning,” I repeat back, my mouth tugging into a smile. “Did you sleep okay?”

“I did, but why are you up so early?”

Concern flares down the mating bond and I reach out to rub his arm. “I’m okay,” I assure him.

Abel moves to sit next to me on the porch swing. “I can sense you’re not. What’s going on?”

I roll my mug between my hands, frowning. I decide to give him the truth. He deserves my honesty. “I keep dreaming about the hunters. They’re still looking, but I don’t think they’re looking for me.”

He kisses my cheek. Abel always needs to be touching me too, and even when he pulls back, his hand rests on my thigh under the blanket.

“They’re just dreams, baby. After what you went through, it’s understandable that you’d have some nightmares from it.”

“Usually, I would agree with that, but I’ve been working with Hester and Roux to improve my vision walking. I think… I think these are visions.”

His forehead scrunches as he frowns at me. “What are you seeing other than them hunting?”

“They’re in a town, looking for someone. I can’t see their faces, but they explore a little more of the town with every dream.” I place my mug on the small table next to the swing. “I think whoever they are hunting is in trouble, Abel.”

“Are they tau?”

I scrunch my nose. “I don’t know. I just… I have this pull to go to this town.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“I have a feeling of the direction I need to go in, but I don’t know the name of it.”

He rubs my thigh in a soothing motion. “Do you think you can work with Hester to find out more? I’m not keen on the idea of you leaving the sanctuary to find whoever they’re hunting—especially not without concrete information.”

I understand his concern. As tau wolves the moment we leave the sanctuary we risk being trailed by the hunters who want us dead.

“We could combine our magic and maybe get a better grip on the vision.”

He must sense my concern through the bond because he pulls his hand from under the blanket to cup my face. “Let’s talk to Hester. Maybe with the four of you harnessing your powers, you can see the rest of it.”

He’s right. Apryle and Roux are growing in strength, too. Apryle is becoming more proficient in her dream walking, while Roux is getting better at conjuring.

He kisses me and I melt into his touch, unable to resist the pull of my mate. My wolf is just as content as I am. “I’ll grab your sneakers.”

I love him for not doubting me, and for taking my concerns seriously. He disappears inside and when he returns, he’s got boots and a sweater on. He hands me my shoes and one of his hoodies.

I slip my feet into my sneakers and pull the hoodie over my head before we make our way to the main house. There are days when it’s easy to forget everything while we’re here, but this morning my mind is on my old pack and my father. I wonder how they are, if they have mourned the dead and started to rebuild. Guilt washes through me and Abel squeezes my hand.

“Whatever you’re feeling guilt for wasn’t your fault,” he says, reading my emotions through the bond.

“I wish I could speak to my father, make sure he’s okay.”

“I know.”

We both know I can’t. It would place the pack in danger again and I’m already responsible for the many wolves who died trying to protect me. Abel would yell at me for thinking that, but it is the truth.

As we approach the house, my head starts to feel fuzzy and I stumble. It’s only Abel’s hold on me that stops me from falling over.

“You okay?” he asks.

“I feel…” I close my eyes, rubbing at the pain in my head that suddenly throbs to life.

“Tess?”

He grabs my face as the vision hits. It tears through me like nothing I have ever experienced. Visions don’t usually hurt. The only time a vision hurt was when Hester took a stroll through my mind the first time I met her.

Is someone trying to do that again? I open my mind, letting down my blocks and that’s when I see her.

She’s got flaming red hair and the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen. She looks terrified, but I can’t see what’s scaring her. Then I hear her voice in my head. “Help me, please!”

My skull feels as if it’s caving in, and my lungs stutter as the air traps in my throat.

When it subsides, I’m on my knees in the dirt, Abel’s arms wrapped around me. Tears stream down my face, but I realize we’re in the sanctuary, safe.

“Tess? Tessa? Talk to me.”

“We have to help her,” I gasp, ignoring Abel’s frantic questioning.

“Who?”

I grip his biceps and peer up at him, my eyes wide, my heart pounding. She’s going to die if we don’t save her. The problem is, I have no idea who or where she is.

“Tessa, who are we saving?” Abel repeats.

“The girl in my vision.” I close my eyes and the impression of her name brushes across my mind. I open them again and seek out Abel’s gaze. “Her name is Halle. She’s a tau wolf and if we don’t find her, the hunters are going to kill her.”

If you enjoyed this short introduction into the Wolves of Black Mountain you can read more about Halle and the characters you met in his book in Rejecting His Mate .